Germany in 2004

The Economy

In 2003 the German economy shrank by 0.1%; in 2004 the first stirrings of growth, predominantly export-driven, could be discerned, though they remained worryingly weak. Domestic growth continued to be undermined by customers’ reluctance to spend. In addition, the unemployment rate crept up again after having fallen slightly toward the end of 2003. It was clear that so far the government’s reform package had failed to make much of an impact upon the weak economy. Even the tax cuts planned for 2005, rushed forward by the Schröder government to take effect on Jan. 1, 2004, had not prompted increased consumer spending.

Despite growing acceptance of the need for economic and welfare state reform, ordinary Germans were reluctant to accept the potential economic hardships or additional costs that such reforms brought. Suspicions remained about the introduction of Anglo-American-style reforms in the shape of market forces. The chancellor had effectively bet his political career on Agenda 2010’s bringing about an economic recovery by the next federal elections. So far, however, the reforms had failed to deliver more than electoral setbacks and street demonstrations as citizens reacted to the immediate impact of the reforms upon their pay packets. The most unpopular elements included an increase of health care charges and the cutting of traditionally generous long-term unemployment benefits. On one Monday in August, triggered by the lowering of long-term unemployment benefits, 20,000 people demonstrated in Leipzig, with a further 15,000 on the streets in Berlin. The Schröder government remained largely firm in the face of such protests, and by autumn the momentum of the protesters had begun to fade, though disapproval continued to be registered in the state polls.

A principal objective of Agenda 2010 was to save the social security system from bankruptcy. The reforms did very little to tackle one of the most notorious brakes on the German economy, however: labour relations. The year 2004 saw a succession of threatened strikes and deals between unions and employers. In January and February there were a number of brief stoppages across the country orchestrated by Germany’s largest and most influential union, IG Metall.

The unions’ threats, however, were staunchly countered by the employers. The Munich-based manufacturing giant Siemens AG threatened a large-scale transfer of jobs to Hungary if IG Metall did not allow a greater use of flexible working hours. Siemens was not the only firm to challenge the restrictions of the 35-hour workweek, although it was one of the more successful. Elsewhere, the head of the Federal Labour Agency, which played a key role in the implementation of the reform package, lost his post in January after a vote of no confidence from the supervisory board and a failure to retain the backing of the government. Florian Gerster had been responsible for implementing cost-cutting measures and reforming the procedures used by the agency to find jobs for the unemployed. Rumours abounded that Gerster’s sacking was more the result of resentment over his reformist policies than his alleged failure to put contracts up for bid correctly.

Economic issues were also a source of tension within the European Union, as Germany and France continued to break the budget-deficit ceiling of the EU Stability and Growth Pact. Harsh exchanges with the European Commission led to a case heard before the European Court of Justice that challenged the legality of the EU finance ministers’ decision in November 2003 not to punish member states that continued to breach the ceiling. For its part the German government argued that encouraging economic growth should take precedence over attempts to cut the deficit. France’s position was similar, and both countries were criticized by other member states, particularly those that had fought hardest to meet the budget-deficit criteria. In the event, the finance ministers’ ruling was overturned by the court, although it looked increasingly like a case of the European Commission’s winning the battle but losing the war. Plans that featured more flexible means of assessing the budget deficits were developed to take account of periods of slow growth as well as recession. (See European Union:Sidebar, above.)

A clash between Anglo-American and German business cultures came to the fore in the spring. Six former directors of the telecommunications firm Mannesmann faced charges of breach of trust with regard to bonuses voted to five of them in the wake of Mannesmann’s takeover by Vodafone AirTouch in 2000, the largest-ever corporate takeover at the time. The bonuses, totaling about $71 million, were of unprecedented size by German standards and were widely portrayed as evidence of corporate greed, particularly in light of the job losses that had followed the takeover. The defendants were acquitted on July 22, despite criticism of the size of the bonuses and the sloppiness of the paperwork, but the debate over the desirability for Germany of Anglo-American-style corporate governance (notably highly paid superstar CEOs) continued into the new year.

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